Nocturne

Lili Boulanger’s Nocturne for violin or flute and piano dates from 1911, the year before the brilliant yet physically frail young composer became the first woman ever to win the Prix de Rome. Written when she was only 17, it is a concise, somewhat deceptive piece: it conceals beneath a tranquil surface a remarkable level of harmonic invention with some unsettling undercurrents. Debussy is a palpable influence on the musical language, and the keen-eared listener might detect towards the end a brief quotation from his Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune. After the piano establishes with simple, rapt clarity the atmosphere of a peaceful night, the violin enters with a songful and engaging opening phrase. Soon, however, the mood intensifies, with the piano venturing into undreamed-of harmonic territories. The violin whirls into upward-striving scales at the climax, before the music calms towards a return of the opening idea. The sheer quantity of thought and feeling that Boulanger can encapsulate in such a brief musical span makes the Nocturne a particularly special and personal creation.